(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in tone quality presetting apparatus for use in electronic musical instruments, which is of the type arranged so that the tone quality setting units such as rotary switches and variable resistors assigned for setting tone quality patterns such as tone colors and tone effects are constructed so as to be activated through either manipulating means or powered automatic setting means such as electric motors. The pertinent tone quality setting units are automatically set by the motor exactly to the desired contents of the data which have been preset in a memory means of the instrument.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
There has been known a tone quality presetting apparatus for use in an electronic musical instrument, which is of the type arranged so that the tone quality setting units such as rotary switches and variable resistors assigned for setting, for example, tone colors and tone effects are constructed so as to be operable through either one of the manual operating means and automatic setting means including motors for example, so that the player actuates the automatic setting means based on the recalled tone quality data which have been preset in a memory means to thereby automatically set the pertinent tone quality setting units exactly to the contents of the selected preset data, and also that the player can arbitrarily set the respective setting units to any desired tone quality patterns through manual operation during the performance of the electronic musical instrument.
According to the tone quality presetting apparatus of the type described above, there are provided various advantages as mentioned below. That is, a desired tone quality pattern to which the pertinent setting units are to be set since the pattern may be used during the play of the electronic musical instrument is stored in a memory in advance, and such tone quality pattern is recalled at any desired moment during the player's performance, whereby the pertinent respective setting units are set simultaneously to the desired contents of the present memory just by one touch of the player's finger onto the corresponding switch means. Thus, the setting operation is greatly facilitated as compared with the prior type electronic musical instruments and also the respective tone quality patterns can be manually set separately on the individual corresponding setting units. Thus, it is possible for the player to easily carry out any desired modification or alteration of the tone quality patterns even after they have been automatically set and memorized by means of the powered automatic setting units without causing a change in the memorized pattern. Not only that, the tone quality presetting apparatus of this type has the further advantage that the contents which have been automatically set on the respective setting units can be directly noticed by the player simply by looking at the indication of the operating positions of the manipulating members provided on the operating panel of the instrument without requiring any special display means.
It often happens that the tone quality presetting apparatus of the type described above is operated in the midst of a play of the electronic musical instrument. Thus, it becomes necessary for the respective tone quality setting units, whenever any one of the present data stored in the memory is recalled, to instantaneously complete their setting to the contents of the recalled data in good response to the recalling operation. For this reason, the respective setting units require a large driving power for realizing the setting, and concurrently therewith, the tone quality presetting apparatus as a whole will become a complicated large-sized system which is quite expensive. Moreover, the respective setting units have to be driven at a high speed, and this gives rise to the generation of cumbersome noises. In addition, there is the further problem that, in order to materialize a high-speed driving of the respective setting units and their precise positioning, the controlling of such operation becomes very difficult.